Stephens-Hamedani-Destin Study Summary under the First in ...



First in the World Program:

Stephens-Hamedani-Destin Study Summary

|Study title |Closing the social-class achievement gap: A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students’ academic |

| |performance and all students’ college transition. |

|Study authors |Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G., & Destin, M. |

|Study link | |

|Intervention topic area |Influencing the Development of Non-Cognitive Factors |

|Intervention summary |The difference-education intervention consisted of older students from diverse social-class backgrounds sharing their stories |

| |with incoming students, who were also from diverse social-class backgrounds. The stories focused on students’ transition to |

| |college, both the difficulties and the successes, while referencing how their specific backgrounds (e.g., not having parents |

| |who attended college) mattered. The goal of the intervention is to educate students on how and why their different backgrounds|

| |matter in college, with the hope that doing this will improve their transition to college by empowering students with the |

| |understanding that their differences are normal and also enabling them to overcome obstacles they may face. The intervention |

| |was originally aimed at first-generation college students, however, because it addresses how backgrounds matter for all |

| |different kinds of students, it may have the potential to be beneficial to other groups underrepresented in college contexts. |

|Core elements of the |Show how all students can experience college differently – The success of this type of program hinges on framing it as |

|intervention |relevant to all students, rather than as a “diversity initiative” targeting disadvantaged students who need extra help. The |

| |study authors recommend that both the senior students who share their stories and the incoming students who participate in the|

| |program are first- and continuing-generation, and that all senior students reference how their background helped and/or |

| |hindered them. First, it will ensure that first-generation students do not feel singled out or stigmatized as students in need|

| |of extra help. Second, it will help students learn about each other’s different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. |

| |Representing difference as a normal part of the college experience — and life, more generally — is a crucial lesson in today’s|

| |increasingly diverse world. |

| |Don’t be afraid of the negative (but offset it with the positive) — Incoming students need to hear how it really is, not an |

| |idealized version of what other students have gone through. First-generation students confront a lot of adversity during the |

| |college transition. They need to learn about the obstacles they are likely to face, but also need to understand that each |

| |obstacle is surmountable when they use the right strategies and rely on their resilience. |

| |Deliver a powerful (but subtle) message — Class is a touchy subject in America. We recommend giving students a subtle nudge to|

| |show them how it matters in the stories, rather than telling them directly that class is something that they need to watch out|

| |for. Encourage them to think about and apply what they learn to their own lives and let them come to their own conclusions. |

| |Give students the chance to process the information and make it their own – for example, by writing an essay or making a video|

| |about what they learned to share with next year’s incoming students. |

|Costs of the intervention |This will vary widely from situation to situation (for example, how readily available are senior students that want to spend |

| |their time helping to develop a program based on their own stories?). |

|Considerations for |There is some preliminary evidence that suggests that timing of the intervention is important to it’s efficacy, in that it’s |

|implementation |better to do the intervention within the first 1-2 months of students’ freshman year of college. Students are most likely to |

| |benefit when they are still in the process of making sense of who they are in the college context and also before they |

| |encounter too many obstacles. |

|Findings of the study |We found that first-generation students had higher year-end grade-point averages and took more advantage of college resources |

| |that could help them succeed—like seeking mentorship and extra help from professors—than their peers who participated in a |

| |control intervention that did not reference the importance of student backgrounds. Additionally, we found that all students |

| |who participated in the difference-education program—both first- and continuing-generation—gained a deeper understanding of |

| |how students’ diverse backgrounds and perspectives mattered in college than their peers who participated in the control. All |

| |students also experienced a smoother college transition—they were less stressed, felt like they fit in socially, and were more|

| |connected to their home and school.[1] |

|Relevant resources |Some resources are available at . |

| | |

| |Also see an op-ed the authors wrote on the subject: |

| |. |

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[1] Of the findings listed, the What Works Clearinghouse’s single study review only reported the grade point average finding and confirmed the finding’s statistical significance.

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